Rising smartphone sales mean Apple’s share of purchases has fallen by nearly
half in just a year as Android growth increases

Apple’s share of smartphone sales has fallen from 30.6 per cent to 18.3 per cent in a year, new figures reveal. At the same time, Android sales rose from 10.7 per cent to 45.2 per cent.

In the main, however, it’s an increasing overall smartphone market rather than a decline in Apple’s actual sales figures that account for the changes. Over the same period, BlackBerry's share rose 2.9 per cent to 22.3 per cent. That coincides with BlackBerrys coming down in price and more people upgrading from feature phones to smartphones.

Nokia fell 22 per cent, from 32.7 per cent to 10.7 per cent, while Windows Phone, despite a significant marketing push behind new technology, halved from 5.6 per cent to 2.8 per cent.

Three-quarters of Android’s sales come from people upgrading from an older phone; just 1.4 per cent of Android sales are from former iPhone owners. More than eight out of ten BlackBerry purchasers, however, were upgrading from a feature phone to their first smartphone. Although there are now more iPhones in use, they represent a smaller proportion of sales.

The latest market share figures for smartphone operating systems are from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech for the 12-week period ending 12 June. It also reveals that Android is now the top OS in six countries, edging past Symbian in Spain.

Global Consumer Insight Director, Dominic Sunnebo said “We are yet to see any real signs of consumers switching between Android and Apple. Our data shows that Apple and Android’s customers are intensely loyal when choosing their upgrade.”

He added that “One reason for this is the investment consumers make in their device through apps. In France for example, the average iPhone costs €215, and 17 per cent of iPhone owners download more than 10 apps each month. This investment is then lost if they want to choose a different OS as the apps are non-transferable.”

In the future, Sunnebo suggested that competition will be tighter. “A concern for brands targeting the lower end of the market is that once consumers have tried a smartphone they are prepared to spend more on their next device and could turn to other brands,” he said. “With more and more consumers buying smartphones the future for middle-to-high-end smartphones is set to become ever more competitive.”